Issues of Conscience | 1 Corinthians 8:4-13

How nice would it be, how nice would it be if

we could get a group of godly and trustworthy

scholars together to create an extensive database

that could serve as a guide for all Christian

decision -making in every possible circumstance

that you or I might face. Imagine this. So you

could go into this database and say, I want to

look at all the circumstances and input all the

parameters related to, say, being invited to

a particular party. So you could input all the

deity. And at the end, what basically, you know,

tell me whether I should go to this party or

not. So you could punch in the location of the

event, the percentage of believers that would

be there versus non -believers, what kind of

food will be served, what kind of drinks will

be available, how people will be dressed, what

kind of music will be playing at this party.

And based on the guest list, What are the possible

temptations that might arise? And then you hit

enter and the AI behind the database spins and

at the end says, you're okay to go to that or

you should decline that party. As Christians,

question, as Christians who desire to honor God

and make wise decisions, would that be a good

thing for us to have that? Somewhere deep in

our hearts, many of us would say, yes, of course

that would be a good thing. it would probably

make me more holy. It would make my decision

-making so much easier, so why would that not

be a good thing? And the truth is there's a ton

of Christians out there that if you really pinned

them down and got them to be honest and say,

yeah, I either would love to have that database

or some complex rule book that would tell me

what decisions to make in every circumstance.

You know, just publish a rule book. Whatever

the book says, I will do it. I will obey. But

there's a few problems with this, isn't there?

And maybe you thought about this. First of all,

there's no way, and I say no way, not fully understanding

the power of AI, but I'm sure 10 years from now

people will laugh at this sermon. There's no

way anyone could ever put a database together

that could address every possible circumstance

that we might face. No way. Life is too complex

for that. But more importantly, having an outside

source tell us what decisions to make. would

completely stunt our spiritual growth, completely

stunt it. How does a Christian learn to walk

in the Spirit or mature in the Spirit or live

a Spirit -controlled life if they don't have

to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them? We

just wouldn't learn and grow. And the fact is,

we all know this to be true. Life as a Christian

in this fallen world, it's a bit of a maze, it's

a bit of a minefield, and it has to be carefully

navigated. But through the study of Scripture,

Through prayer, by heeding wise counsel, and

most of all, listening to the conscience as it's

informed by the Holy Spirit, we learn and we

grow in how to walk and how to make godly choices

and good decisions. We actually don't want a

rule book or an AI database that would take over

the work of the Holy Spirit within us. That wouldn't

glorify God and it wouldn't be beneficial to

us. Now, this morning, we're going to look at

a particular issue taking place in the first

century, a constant source of trouble for early

Christians in the first century churches. It

was one of those gray area issues that required

all of the things I just mentioned. What does

Scripture say about this? What if I pray about

it? What about wise counsel from men like Paul?

How do I inform my conscience such that I'm able

to make the right decision in the moment? that

pleases God and builds up my faith. And we have

so much to learn from how the first century believers

handled this issue, even as we face even more

issues in our lives today. So grab your Bibles.

We're going to 1 Corinthians chapter 8. We're

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

finishing the chapter today. Yeah. Lord willing,

we're going to get all the way through chapter

9 before the end of the year. How exciting is

that? I mean, I just set myself up for failure,

didn't I? 1 Corinthians 8. Last Sunday, we laid

the foundation for understanding the primary

issue in this passage. We talked about two essential

aspects of the Christian life. Number one, acquiring

knowledge. Very important, right? But then secondly,

applying that knowledge with love for others.

Those are two essential parts of our spiritual

growth and a guide for us in how we're to live

life in the body of Christ. But those two things,

knowledge and love, have to be paired. Because

knowledge without love will end up being arrogant

and uncaring and judgmental. And love without

knowledge will be ungrounded, overly led by feelings

that ultimately misguide it. So in today's passage,

we get to see how this plays out in a practical

setting. When a first century believer has to

decide whether or not he or she can eat certain

foods that are passed through a part of a pagan

ritual. And you might be surprised how many times

food issues like this show up in the New Testament

as a potential stumbling block. You see it in

the book of Acts. You see it show up in the Jerusalem

Council in the book of Acts, and then later in

Acts 21. You see it multiple times in Paul's

letters. You even find it twice in the letters

written to the seven churches of Revelation.

This was no small issue back in the day. Take

it seriously. Let's read together the entire

chapter, all 13 verses. Now concerning things

sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have

knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love

edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything,

he's not yet known as he ought to know. But if

anyone loves God, he is known by him. Okay, now

our focus for this morning, verses 4 to 13. Therefore,

concerning the eating of things sacrificed to

idols, we know that there is no such thing as

an idol in the world and that there is no God

but one. For even if there are so -called gods,

whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there

are many, air quotes, gods and many, air quotes,

lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father,

from whom are all things and we exist for him

and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things.

And we exist through him. Verse 7. Dining in

an idol's temple will not his conscience, if

he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed

to idols. For through your knowledge, he who

is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake

Christ died. And so by sinning against the brethren

and wounding their conscience, when it is weak,

you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes

my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat

again so that I will not cause my brother. Okay,

so many practical and interesting nuances to

walk through this morning. Let's dive into this

logically, starting with some things that Paul

affirms here are essential and true. And then

we're going to talk about the practical problem

happening there in Corinth. Then at the end of

the sermon, we're going to bridge the time and

culture gap and finish with some practical guidelines

for how you and I can make decisions that glorify

God today. So let's start by going back. Do you

remember last week we talked about the know -it

-all faction that existed there in Corinth? This

group of people, these are the ones who have

all this knowledge and are boasting in it, but

they're lacking in love. And they're the ones

who think this whole issue about eating food

sacrificed to idols is a simple one that everybody

in the church should have just figured out by

now. And we call them the know -it -all faction.

What you see Paul doing in verses 4 through 8

is basically summarizing their argument. It's

an argument built on three premises, and here

they are. Number one, that there is no God but

Yahweh. Amen? And number two, that idols aren't

real or living. And number three, spiritually,

food doesn't really matter all that much. And

guess what? They're correct on all three of those

points. That is actually a good logical argument

that these guys are building their knowledge

upon. That doesn't mean they've got the whole

issue figured out correctly. But these three

points are correct. Look again at verse six.

You'll see the foundation of the argument. For

us, meaning Christians, there's but one God,

the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, which

is an affirmation of monotheism, right? Straight

from the Shema of Deuteronomy chapter six. Remember,

Shema just means here in Hebrew. Hero Israel,

Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one, monotheism.

So for us, God is one, the Father, but there

is also one Lord who is God the Son, the Lord

Jesus Christ. And that's the very language you

heard this morning as Grant led us in the Nicene

Constantinople Creed of 381. It's the exact language.

Let me show it to you again. We believe in one

God, the Father Almighty, and in one Lord Jesus

Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the

Father before all ages, God from God, light from

light. True God from true God, begotten, not

made of the same essence as the Father. The guys

who wrote this creed were very careful in their

language to make sure that they laid this out

properly. And by the way, most, 90 % of the men

who were at these two councils spoke Greek as

their mother tongue. It was not a difficult thing

for them to figure out what Paul was actually

saying in this particular passage. So Paul affirms

a plurality of hypostases or what we call persons

within the divine simplicity of the one true

God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit. And then he also affirms both the

ontological equality and the functional roles

within the Godhead, saying all things are from

the Father and we exist for him and that all

things are by the Son and we exist through him.

Fascinating language, right? And you heard some

of the same stuff in the Creed. Again, the Father

is the maker of heaven and earth, all things

visible and invisible, and the Lord Jesus Christ,

through him all things were made. You see the

parallels there? Now notice in our passage that

Paul adds no commentary to this. He doesn't try

to explain how this can be. He assumes that his

first century readers know that this is true,

and this gets left to future generations. at

Nicaea 325, at Constantinople 381, to sort of

work through the language here and explain it

in a creedal fashion. So that's the foundational

piece of the argument, that God is one. He's

the only God. And then the second step is in

verse four of our text. Because there's only

one God, therefore, there's no such thing as

an idol, right? Idols have no real life. They

have no real existence. And again, Paul agrees

with this. In the first century, we know that

There were idols all over the place in the Greek

world, carved statues made out of wood and clay

and marble and stone and bronze. They were so

-called gods made by human hands, which seems

silly to us today, right? A god made by human

hands. But historically, worship of those idols

was a consistent part of ancient Greek life.

There were many temples in Corinth. You might

recall at the very beginning of this. of this

series, I put up this picture. It's an artist's

rendering of what first century Corinth might

have looked like. And it's beautiful, right?

These buildings are beautiful, but these temples

would have been all over the place. So if you

visited a temple dedicated to Aphrodite or Apollo

or Poseidon, who were the most common in the

city of Corinth, you would see worshipers arriving

at these temples throughout the day. They would

go inside to where the idol stood, these massive

statues. and they would bring a variety of offerings.

And they would lay them on the altar that was

usually located just beneath the statue of the

god or goddess. And they would bring all kinds

of meat and other types of food. They would bring

liquids to pour out on the altar, wine, milk,

honey, oil. They would bring incense to be burned.

They would lay down personal jewelry and clothing

and even figurines, even locks of hair. They

would bring and lay on the altar as part of a

health and healing ritual. So this is a very

common part of life in ancient Greece. But like

Baal, who couldn't be roused by his 850 prophets

in the days of Elijah, these gods made by human

hands never responded. It was the human priests

and priestesses who would collect all these offerings

and use them for themselves and then also use

them to keep the cultic activity going. And this

was normal life. We looked at some of these pictures

earlier in the series, but even today, a portion

of the temple to Apollo is standing in Corinth

today, still there. And that statue on the right

is Aphrodite. It's a personal idol, small, made

out of terracotta that was dug out of the city

of Corinth dating back to the third century.

So there were massive idols in temples, but there

were also personal idols that you could have

in your home. where you could worship Aphrodite

or Apollo in your home, which, of course, might

just sort of trigger something in your mind.

Sometimes Roman Catholics have statues of Mary

in their homes, right? So this similar type of

thing. So from the perspective of the know -it

-all faction there in Corinth, any meat or food

that had been sacrificed to these false idols

had really been sacrificed to nothing because

they don't exist. And that means the meat wasn't

contaminated by the ritual, and therefore any

Christian who had knowledge, who understood this

issue, should just go ahead and eat. But the

important thing to remember is these idols for

the pagan population were very real representations

of their gods and goddesses. They did really

believe that these things had life in them. And

I know, again, the temptation is to laugh at

that, but keep in mind, 25 % of the world's population

today believe Allah is a real God and that he's

going to reward their submission and their prayers.

Another 15 % of the world's population are still

bringing physical offerings to the millions of

gods of Hinduism and expecting them to respond.

So together, that's three and a half billion

people today worshiping gods who are no more

alive than Aphrodite or Apollo. Before we laugh

at this, right? Now, later in 1 Corinthians,

we're going to find out that Paul understands

that demons can and do take advantage of this

type of pagan idol worship, convincing people

that there is a living supernatural deity there

and leading them away from the worship of the

one true God. And that means when people bring

offerings to these idols, it's not a spiritually

harmless thing. We should note that. They're

not alive, but it's not spiritually harmless.

They are, in some sense, participating in demonic

activity when they do so. So to summarize so

far, there's only one true God. Therefore, idols

are nothing. And step three in the argument is,

well, in the big picture of things, spiritually,

food doesn't really matter. And again, Paul agrees.

Look at verse 8. He says food is not going to

commend us to God. We're not worse off if we

don't eat it. We're not better off if we do eat

it. Now, I'm not a big fan of the translation

here in the New American Standard. The verb there

for commend is most often used to describe the

action of placing something beside or nearby.

So what Paul is saying here is food will not

bring us closer to God. The choice of what you

eat is not going to bring you closer to God.

Whatever the source of the food is that you ate

for dinner last night, eating it didn't make

God turn away from you. Not eating it didn't

make him draw closer to you. Okay, it just doesn't

matter. And there are no dietary laws, praise

the Lord, under the new covenant, right? They're

just, we're not ancient Israel living under the

Mosaic law. So there are no food restrictions

for us. By the way, that was made real clear

back in Acts chapter 10, right? When Peter's

Acts 10 · chapter mention

given this vision of formerly unclean animals

and he says, no, Lord, I won't eat those things.

And what does God say to him? Get up, Peter,

kill and eat. Every hunter's favorite verse,

get up, kill and eat, right? And prior to that,

Jesus said to his disciples, it's not what goes

into a man that defiles him. It's what comes

out of a man. So there's only one God. Idols

don't have any life or existence. And the kind

of food we eat doesn't bring us closer to God.

That is the argument of the know -it -alls. They

say, we have all of this knowledge. We get this.

This is elementary stuff for us. But then comes

Paul's rebuke. You're right, you guys. You do

have that knowledge. But that knowledge has so

puffed you up with pride that you are blind to

the most important aspect of this whole debate.

And let that be a lesson to us. We can have tons

of knowledge and still miss the forest for the

trees, can't we? And that's what Paul's about

to show them. Contrary to what the know -it -all

faction claims, in verse 7, Paul says, not all

men have this knowledge. Not all men have this

knowledge. You guys are members of a church family.

And yes, you know these things are true, but

have you considered others in the body that aren't

as well studied as you? Have you even thought

of your brothers and sisters who have recently

come to saving faith out of a pagan background

and they're struggling with this? Have you considered

them at all in all of your knowledge? He says

they're accustomed to idols in verse seven, meaning

they've come out of a background where this idol

worship was a part of their their daily routine.

It was part of their customs and traditions.

They once considered those idols to be real.

They once thought that they were bringing genuine

offerings to a living deity. And because of their

background at this stage in their Christian life,

he says, their conscience is weak. And it risks

being defiled by the thought of going back to

that life, of eating food now that has been tainted

by pagan worship. For them, this is a reminder

and perhaps an invitation to their former way

of life, which they're trying to put behind them.

But you know it all as having thought about your

weaker brothers. You're too busy rooting yourself

in prideful knowledge, and by doing so, you've

missed the much more important principle, and

that is self -sacrificing love. Your knowledge

has blinded you to self -sacrificing love. What

you're missing is sensitivity to other's situation.

You're missing grace for those who are still

immature in their faith. You're missing patience

in allowing fellow believers to learn and grow

at a pace that might be different than yours.

Yes, they need to be taught this lesson. It's

important. Every baby believer needs to hear

about their freedom in Christ. They need to know,

look, those idols aren't real and that food isn't

as big a deal as you might think. And it's likely

that these immature believers had been taught

these things in Corinth, but at this point in

their walk of faith, you know, they just haven't

been able to take hold of those things and trust

in them. Their consciences are weak. They're

bothered by the whole idea still. Their inner

voice is saying, look, I don't want anything

to do with my former way of life. Nothing. And

you, the supposed mature brother in the church

family, with all your knowledge, all you're saying

to them is, hey, get over it. Start eating. Here's

the thing. In that moment, it's not our job to

fix our brother or sister. Notice in this passage

that Paul's rebuke is reserved for the stronger

brother. For his lack of love, his lack of care,

he doesn't rebuke the weaker brother, does he?

Nowhere in the passage does Paul say to the weaker

brother, hey, you need to figure this out and

start eating. No, he rebukes the stronger brother

for his lack of love and concern. Now, just a

quick clarification. Do we know what the conscience

is? What is the human conscience? It is a God

-given faculty that we all have as part of our

inner man, part of our self -knowledge. It's

what we tap into in order to evaluate a situation

and to judge the way we're thinking about it

and our motives and our actions related to God's

moral law. We tap into that thing to evaluate

a situation, to make a decision. Paul talks about

it in Romans 2. He tells us that when we're faced

with a moral choice, it's our conscience that

rises up and does one of two things, either accuses

us within saying that's wrong or defends us within

saying that's permissible. That's what our conscience

does. But the important thing to understand is

our consciences are not infallible. They're fallible.

They're not a divine voice or an independent

authority. It's merely the witness in our inner

man either accusing or excusing us. And because

of sin, our consciences are compromised to some

extent. It's true of all of us. They've been

compromised. So our consciences can be weak.

They can be misinformed. They can be seared and

hardened against the truth. And they can be legalistic

and very judgmental. So it's important to know

that not every inward feeling of either guilt

or approval is automatically reliable just because

it's your conscience. Now, for you and I as believers,

the conscience is being progressively renewed

and instructed by Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

That's part of the process of sanctification.

And it's our role as disciples to continually

cooperate in this process of educating ourselves

through the study of Scripture, through prayer,

through wise counsel, so that in increasing measure,

our consciences begin to be transformed such

that they come into line with God's opinion more

often than our opinion. Does that make sense?

That's sanctification. Our consciences are being

informed by Scripture so that we're now, over

time, it's not so much about our preferences,

but about God's opinion of things. And that's

a good thing. That's a good process. But in the

meantime, wherever you're at today, it's important

to realize a believer should not act against

his conscience. Should not. Not that it's always

going to be correct, but as James tells us, doing

what one believes to be morally wrong becomes

sin to him. That's why it's imperative for the

time being that these weak Christ followers in

Corinth who haven't fully grasped their freedom

in Christ, and their conscience is screaming

at them, don't eat that food, they shouldn't.

They're not ready for it. They shouldn't eat

that food. And the Christ Father who has all

that knowledge of the issue has to be patient

with that brother and not force him or manipulate

him to violate his conscience. Now, you can probably

imagine how this still happens in our world today.

Think about all the people worshiping in churches

this morning who have past lifestyles that they

don't want to be reminded of. Right? Their consciences

are weak about it. So, for example, coming out

of a lifestyle where drugs and heavy drinking

and partying was the norm, or folks who are coming

out of various forms of addiction, somebody who's

lived a sexually permissive life in the past,

someone who's come out of a homosexual lifestyle,

perhaps a background of violent behavior, a life

of crime where they spent time in jail or prison.

If we're not sensitive to one another's backgrounds,

we can run right over them with our knowledge.

Just run right over them and end up reminding

them of their past sins and all the bad memories

that go with it. So this is an important lesson

for us. This is not just rooted in the first

century. This goes on even today. And so Paul's

point in all this then comes out in verses 9

to 13. In verse 9, Paul says, this freedom that

you have as a mature believer does not somehow

become a stumbling block to those who are weak.

Be careful. Be careful. Though the type of food

that we eat doesn't really matter to God, what

we choose to do with the food in question does

matter because it has an impact on my brother

and my sister in Christ. If I truly love my fellow

church member, I can't just say, well, look,

I've studied the issue. I have knowledge of it.

I'm free in Christ. So I'm eating and the rest

of you just need to get over it. And we can do

that if we're not careful. We can run right over

people insensitively. If we do that, as we saw

on verse two last week, then I don't really know

as I ought to know. I think I know, but I don't

really know as I should know because I'm lacking

in love. My knowledge has to be regulated and

possibly limited. by my love for other people,

especially if those around me view me as a stronger

brother, as a mature believer. If they're looking

to me as an example, then my accountability for

this even goes even higher. And Paul brings out

the example issue in verse 10. He says, if someone

sees you, one who has knowledge, dining in an

idol's temple, will not his weak conscience be

encouraged or strengthened? to eat food sacrificed

to idols, to run right past his conscience. This

impressionable young believer sees a stronger

brother, maybe a mentor in the faith, and he

is hanging out in this questionable setting.

Might he in that moment be emboldened to go against

what his conscience is telling him? He's like,

well, I see that guy doing it. Maybe I should

just get over this. And he violates his conscience.

And Paul says in verse 11, if that happens, he

who is weak is ruined. He uses this very strong

word. He is ruined. It's a very strong word in

the Greek. It can be translated, he is destroyed.

Now, not eternally destroyed. That would not

be theologically correct, but practically and

spiritually destroyed. And for the stronger brother

to do this, this is not walking in love. It's

the opposite. It's causing a brother to stumble

and fall. And it's the type of thing that can

drive an immature believer into very deep sorrow.

He can come to believe that somehow God has failed

him or that he's failed God, even though we know

that grace and forgiveness abounds in Christ.

He's going to wrestle with this. He's spiritually

ruined. It might even tempt him to sin more.

We can begin to think wrongly and go, well, look,

I stumbled and I fell into the sin. I violated

my conscience. And now that I've broken that

barrier, I might as well keep going and fall

into even more sin. And it's because that stronger

brother wasn't paying attention. In many places

in the New Testament, friends, listen, we're

told that we should enjoy our freedom in Christ,

and we should. But that freedom comes with responsibility

to protect those around us. who have doubts about

what our freedom entails. And if a brother has

a closed conscience regarding some area of life

that he's not ready to go into yet, we ought

not force him into what he cannot handle. Instead,

teach him to obey his conscience. And as he matures

in the faith, this is so great, as he matures

in the faith, his conscience is gonna be gradually

sanctified, widened, and there will come a day

when he can walk in that door, And do it without

stumbling. But in that moment, no. In that moment,

be patient. Be gracious. If you run ahead of

God and force it, you're going to ruin your brother

and you're going to set him back in his faith.

This is such an important lesson for us. Now,

listen, I know the objection to this. I've heard

this before. Jeff, are you saying I have to restrict

my life for the sake of others? Yes. You're a

Christ follower. Yes. And I find it interesting.

Paul adds this little touch in verse 11. He says,

he who is weak is ruined. The brother for whose

sake Christ died. He's amping up the high standard

here. Because if Christ loved that brother enough

to shed his blood and die in his place, shouldn't

you also love him with the sacrificial love?

Yes. Yes. This is actually the most basic principle

of Christian love. I just, I constantly refer

to it. It's the Philippians. Philippians 2, concept

of love, right? We all know this. Do nothing

out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility

consider others as more important than yourselves.

Constantly putting people ahead of you. And if

we're all doing that, how beautiful is that?

Now, just a quick aside, and I think this is

an adjacent issue that deserves a brief mention.

This is a practical one. There may be times in

your life when you could exercise your freedom

in Christ, in a gray area issue, but you voluntarily

choose not to. Not out of fear that you're going

to cause somebody to stumble, but because you

just don't want to cause unnecessary offense.

I'll give you an example of this in just a moment.

This is self -sacrificial love. This is where

you limit your freedom out of respect for another

person's weakness. Here's my example. 38 years

ago, Tanya and I are dating. First dating, and

I meet her parents, and her parents have very

different convictions than I have. Tanya and

I, at that point in our lives, had come to the

conviction that drinking alcohol was permitted

in Scripture, that it wasn't a violation of our

conscience to have a drink with dinner. That

was not Tanya's parents' conviction. In their

minds, any alcohol, any alcohol is a sin for

a Christian. So I remember the first time we

went out to dinner. with Tanya's parents, and

I had a choice to make. I could insist on exercising

my freedom and order a drink in their presence

to make a biblical point, and I thought about

it, to show them that I had correct knowledge,

just like the know -it -alls. But would that

have been the loving thing to do? Lawful, yes.

Loving, no. So my choice in that situation was

to respect their weakness in that area of their

lives, and to pass on getting a drink. Now, here's

the distinction. This was not a stumbling issue.

Trust me, if you know Tanya's parents, I was

100 % certain that if I ordered a drink, they

were not going to follow me into ordering a drink.

They had made that abundantly clear. This was

not a stumbling issue. But ordering that drink

would have just poked at their weakness and put

up a wedge between us, and I wanted to love them.

And I wanted to show them respect, to earn their

respect as a young man dating their daughter.

So I fell back on the Philippians 2 principle.

I could do it. Boy, I could make a point. But

would that be the loving thing to do? I put their

interests before my own. Okay, does that make

sense? So there's the stumbling block issue,

but there's also I'm just going to limit my freedom

so that I don't unnecessarily offend people.

And that principle applies when you go out with...

brothers and sisters in Christ, and you go to

a restaurant, and the question comes up, would

you like a drink? What do you do? You got to

know your church family, right? Maybe straight

up ask the question, are you guys okay with this?

And if somebody asks you that question, be honest.

No, that's actually, I don't agree with that.

Respect one another's weakness in this area.

And that's just one little thing, drinking. Drinking

always comes up, right? But that's just one issue

among many. Speak to each other. Get to know

each other. Understand each other's weakness.

Respect it. Love each other. Amen? Okay, one

last thing Paul does in our passage I want to

point out. Just to make sure he's made his point,

notice how he frames the bigger consequence in

verse 12. He says, by sinning against the brethren

and wounding their conscience when it's weak,

you sin against Christ. Ouch. Just in your Bible,

right? Ouch. Right? If you don't... If that doesn't

get your attention, I don't know how to help

you, right? This is a big deal. It's a serious

warning, and it makes sense. If that immature

believer is known by God and is in union with

Christ, then when you sin against him, you sin

against the one he's in union with, right? Multiple

times in Matthew 25, Jesus makes this point,

and this should be a guiding light for all your

activity within the body of Christ. For good

or for bad, Jesus says, to the extent that you

did it to one of my brothers, even the least

of them, you did it to me. Let that amp up how

you treat one another in the body of Christ.

Because if you do it to them, you do it to me.

Because we're in union with him. That's heavy

stuff. And that's why Paul can be so extreme

in the very last verse. He says, therefore, if

food causes my brother to stumble, I will never

eat meat again. Can you say that? Could you say

that? If I truly love my brother, there is no

liberty I wouldn't lay aside for his sake. That's

a good challenge, isn't it? Okay, we need to

get to practical application on this, right?

Because there's so much to talk about. First,

let me quickly summarize this whole issue of

that first century food sacrifice to idols. This

is not an easy thing to navigate. Just to summarize

what Paul, if Paul were here and say, let me

give you a summary of these verses. As a general

rule, a first century Christian, had the freedom

to eat any meat that had passed through a pagan

sacrifice. They had the freedom to do that because

the food itself is not contaminated by a lifeless

idol. In fact, later in chapter 10, Paul's going

to say that you have the freedom to eat whatever

is sold in the meat market without raising questions.

In other words, and Christians love to do this,

you don't have to go on a massive investigation

to find out the source of the meat. We do this

with products. Well, this company in the... Look,

you don't have to drive yourself crazy trying

to investigate everything. What's the source

of all this, right? He says you don't have to

do that. He says that food is God's gift to you,

and any pagan act that it went through didn't

alter its nature, so it's okay to eat. However,

however, that freedom that you enjoy is not absolute.

It's governed by these three things. Number one,

your own conscience, first of all. Number two,

love for your weaker brother's conscience we

just talked about. And number three, we haven't

really touched on this yet, we are not free to

actually participate in idolatry. That is not

part of your freedom in Christ to say, I'm actually

participating in the worship of false gods. So

be careful. When that brother puts himself into

a questionable setting, he goes into a pagan

temple and he sits down to eat, the question

has to be asked, what is he actually doing? What

is he participating in? This matters. Is he just

enjoying time with friends in that setting, maybe

even witnessing to them and eating that food

that had gone through this ritual? It's a risky

thing to do, isn't it, to put yourself in that

setting. It may not be wise depending on your

strength and maturity, but there's nothing inherently

sinful about walking into that building. Does

that make sense? Or in the act of eating in that

temple, is he in some way joining the others

in the worship of false gods? That is forbidden.

That is forbidden. No question about it. That

would be, Paul says in chapter 10, that would

be sharing in demons, partaking of the table

of demons. So I know that's a fuzzy line, but

that has to be discerned. Am I in here eating

with friends, perhaps witnessing to them, eating

food that's not harmful to me, or am I somehow

joining them in this act of worship? We're not

allowed to do that. the governing principle is

not, is this meat technically clean? The governing

principle is, can I eat this food to God's glory

without compromising my conscience, without compromising

my sacrificial love for my brother, and without

compromising my worship of the one true God only.

Make sense? Okay, now let's bridge the gap to

today. Obviously, there are all kinds of modern

day gray area issues. that you would not expect

to open up a Bible that's 2 ,000 years ago and

find them in the pages of Scripture explicitly,

right? You wouldn't expect that. In Paul's day,

most of the disagreements were on food, drink,

and sacred days, holidays. But today, there's

so many more things that we have to process through.

What does that mean? There's a reason why I started

this morning by reading from Romans 14. There

are so many conscience -related issues today,

so many. convictions out there. It requires that

we extend patience and grace towards one another.

It means respecting one another's personal convictions.

It means not instantly jumping on somebody and

judging them based on what your conscience says.

So again, Romans 14, one person has faith that

he can eat all things, but he who is weak, no

jokes here, right? Eats vegetables only. No jokes,

meat eaters. The one who eats is not to regard

with contempt the one who doesn't eat. And the

one who doesn't eat is not to judge the one who

does eat. For God has accepted him. Who are you

to judge? The servant of another. One person

regards one day. We'll get to that. Above another.

Another regards every day the same. Each person

must be fully convinced in his own mind. But

you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again,

why do you regard your brother with contempt?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat

of God and each one of us will give an account

of himself to God. Let God do that. It's not

my job to jump in and say, your personal conviction's

wrong. Let God do that. So here we go. You ready

for the list? Oh my goodness, right. Okay, drinking

alcohol. Still an issue today, right? Certain

forms of dancing. Smoking cigarettes. Listening

to certain kinds of, we all love music, but certain

kinds of music. Finger wag. Playing poker or

other card games where gambling is involved.

Body piercings. Tattoos. Engaging on certain

social media platforms. Watching a certain type

of movie. Anything other than Bambi. Playing

a certain type of video game. Reading a certain

type of book. Ladies. Oh, that was terrible.

That was... Adam at okillbible .com for all your

complaints. By the way, that was not in my notes.

Sometimes that inner voice, I just need to say

no. Here's a relevant one. Observing certain

holidays like Halloween or certain Christmas

traditions. The level of one's commitment to

fitness. How often are you in the gym? Certain

political allegiances that... become almost an

identity, how one spends their money, attending

certain kinds of non -Christian events where

worldliness is present and obvious. Friends,

in all these things, even though you won't find

them specifically named in the pages of Scripture,

there are principles that we can go to that can

be applied. Plus there is prayer, plus there

is wise counsel, and most importantly, there

is your conscience being informed by the Holy

Spirit. In processing through these issues, let

me reiterate the three governing factors I just

described, plus one, and I'm going to start with

that one. And how do I put this? When you're

faced with what you perceive as a gray area issue,

you've got to start with an obvious question.

Am I sure this isn't black and white? I perceive

it to be a gray area where I have the freedom

to choose this or choose that. But am I sure

about that? Is it possible that I'm either ignoring

the fact that it's sin or that I'm trying to

convince myself that isn't sin because I really

want to do it, right? We can be self -deceived

because we really want something. Are you sure

it's a gray issue? Listen, if the scriptures

and the Holy Spirit are speaking to your conscience

and saying this is sin, walk away from it. And

as you walk away, let the words of Christ echo

in your mind. If you love me, you will keep my

commandments. Walking away when your conscience

tells you to is an act of worship because you're

obeying Christ. See, I've actually heard professing

Christians say the following things. I can go

into a strip club and not struggle. I can go

to that party where I know everybody's gonna

be hammered and I'll just be fine. I can join

in those crass conversations or text threads

that always lead to unwholesome topics. I can

do it. I'm able to grab lunch with someone of

the opposite sex who happens to be attractive.

I can visit those websites without a problem.

None of those things are comparable to foods

and drinks and certain holidays. Those are environments

deliberately built around temptation to sin.

They are not gray area issues. It's sin. And

we know both scripture and the Holy Spirit would

tell us in any of the things I just said, no,

no, no, no. That's something to flee, correct?

We always have to ask, am I here to participate

in, enjoy, or encourage what God forbids? Am

I stepping into something that is consistent

with holiness? So that's the first thing. You

really do have to be honest with yourself. Is

this thing sin? The second principle comes into

play once you've determined, yes, this is really

a gray area issue, where I have the freedom to

choose one option. or the other. And then it's,

well, okay, would participating in this violate

my conscience? And guys, we have to consider

this. It's no longer can I, it's should I, right?

And those are different. Can I? Yes. Should I?

Hmm. I need to think carefully about that. Remember

what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6? There's lots

of things that fall into the category of lawful

or permissible, but are they profitable for you?

Are they going to build you up? So as an example,

movies and TV shows that are rife with F -bombs

and sex scenes, right? Or unnecessary levels

of violence and gore, promoting a blatant anti

-Christian worldview. In those situations, I

can't tell you what to do. There's no rule book

for that. But Paul said in Romans 14, each person

needs to be fully convinced in their own mind.

Check your conscience on this and then respond

to it. Because look, we all have different weaknesses

and vulnerabilities and temptations that can

grab hold of us. Are you listening to your conscience

and responding in obedience, or are you trying

to ignore it and just drown it out? Because I

really want this thing. If you're convinced not

to drink alcohol, don't. Don't. If there's a

certain type of music that brings out impure

thoughts in you, lay it aside. If you know that

you can't play poker without losing control,

pass on the invitation. If being on Instagram

tempts you to covet, delete the app. If you think

Halloween has too many dark themes for your mind,

then just don't observe it. If watching the news

or scrolling on Twitter gets you too riled up,

turn it off. Make that choice. This comes down

to knowing your own heart, knowing where you're

vulnerable, and being willing to ask that hard

question with 100 % honesty. Is this profitable

for me? Honestly, ask the question. That's principle

number two. Number three is at the center of

this passage, we won't go through it, is could

my participation in this gray area issue cause

someone that I love to stumble, misleading them

into violating their conscience? And now I'm

going to inject another aside here. And perhaps

you're aware of this, but there is a history

of people in the church incorrectly applying

the stumbling principle in a way that manipulates

people. Okay, let me explain. Say you have a

personal conviction that Christians should not

drink alcohol, but then you go to eat dinner

at a Mexican restaurant, and there's your fellow

church member having a margarita, okay? And later

on, you go to them and you say, that caused me

to stumble. Is that true? Possibly, but only

if you witnessed what you witnessed caused you

to violate your conscience and follow that person

into getting your own margarita, right? That

would be a stumbling block. It is not a stumbling

block if you're simply upset or offended that

that person was drinking in public. That's not

what Paul's talking about in this passage. You're

free to disagree with his choice, but that is

not what Paul is talking about. Being offended

is not the same as being led into sin. Does that

make sense? Not the same thing. So I don't get

to run around insisting that everybody else live

according to my conscience and my preferences

and then say, If you don't agree with that, you're

all a stumbling block to me. It's not the same

thing. It's an attempt to control other people's

behavior. So we've got to understand that principle.

And then if you find yourself falling into this

trap, go back to Romans 14 and reread the principle

there. I have a different conviction than you

on this subject. I'm not going to hold you in

contempt for your conviction and your choice

because it's not prohibited in Scripture. I'm

not going to judge you and hold you in contempt

for it. In gray area issues, Paul has the last

word, right? He says, who are you to judge your

brother? Leave that to God. Do not usurp the

role of the Holy Spirit in your brother's life

in gray area issues. Let the Spirit work on that

person in time, with patience, with grace. And

when it's all said and done, Paul said, look,

at the end of the day, each one of us is going

to give an account to God for ourselves, right?

Last thing, and then we're done. The fourth governing

principle, which I mentioned earlier, does this

thing, this gray area issue, involve actual idolatry?

If any activity requires your allegiance or your

loyalty above Christ, it's idolatry. Or it threatens

to define your identity other than being found

in Christ. Anything that leads you down a path

towards addiction or slavery to something other

than the Lord, These can be sharing in demons.

Okay, friends, lots to process here, right? Please,

if you have any questions on this or you need

a clarification, seek out time to connect with

an elder and ask your questions, right? Because

this is not easy stuff. Again, how many of you

guys would want that AI database or the rule

book? It now seems really like a much better

option, right? It's not. It's not. This is what

we call growing. in the Lord. This is growing

in a spirit -controlled life, and it's the best

way to go. Trust the Lord in this. Keep studying

scripture. Keep praying. Keep heeding wise counsel.

Keep listening to your conscience, and pray that

the Spirit would grow you in that sense to enjoy

your freedom in Christ. Amen? For now, let's

pray together. Father, thank you for the practical

nature of this passage. Even though we don't

fully understand this whole concept of food sacrifice

to idols, and it seems strange to us, Lord, it's

actually quite applicable, just in different

ways. And so, Father, I pray for myself and for

my brothers and sisters that you would just continue

to grow us in our understanding of how is it

that we walk in the Spirit in this crazy life

that we live, in this fallen world that we live

in. Guide us, Lord, and help us as brothers and

sisters, weaker, stronger, help us to build each

other up, and in the process, Build up this local

church. For your glory, Lord, this is your church.

Help us to do this well. Help us even this week,

Lord, as we make decisions. Guide us by your

spirit, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.